


Crush

by lilyevcans



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Banter, F/M, if they lived au, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 17:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9503045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyevcans/pseuds/lilyevcans
Summary: James Potter has a huge crush on Lily Evans. Will it turn into something more?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I randomly got this idea, so I just had to write it (in like two hours)! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. The banter at the end comes mostly from Parks and Recreation.

Most crushes are a quick thing. If requited, they turn into something more. If they aren't, they fizzle out, serving only as a funny story, a memory. It's one of those predetermined rules of love, like not breaking up with someone over text, or paying for dinner.

But James Potter was never a rule follower.

It had started in their first year. Actually, to be precise, before their first year, as James was sitting next down to a friendly boy named Sirius. He happened to look over, and it was then he saw her. James was only eleven, so he hadn’t exactly been in close vicinity to many girls, but he was certain she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

She had shoulder length red hair that reminded him of the mashed carrots his mum made him eat sometimes (a poor description, but accurate). She hadn't changed into her robes yet, and was wearing her muggle clothes, denim overalls and a light blue sweater.

Time seemed to slow. It hadn't, and while James tried not to stare at the girl’s piercing emerald eyes, he made a gurgling noise. Sirius suddenly felt extreme embarrassment for his new friend.

And this crush didn't fade over time. If anything, it got worse. Eleven year old Lily-crazed James turned into twelve year old Lily-crazed James, and so on.

He tried to be subtle. He tried so hard to be subtle. But subtly was an art that James Potter had yet to master (and was destined to never master). He blushed whenever Lily looked at him. He forgot what he was going to say when she started talking to him. Any sense of wit or intelligence abandoned him the instant he saw Lily Evans. He was the stereotypical lovesick fool.

It got worse. In first or second year, the easy solution was to simply avoid Lily, to crush on her from afar. This was good: James could keep from seeming too much of a fool, and Lily was completely indifferent about him.

In fourth year, when testosterone and fragile masculinity was on the rise, James got too proud. This was a year of showing off, trying to impress Lily by showing how superior he was. It didn't work.

But in sixth year, things got as bad for James as it could get. Remus became friends with the red haired beauty of James’ dreams. And then, suddenly, she was everywhere. She was bandaging Peter’s arm when he fell off a broomstick, making sure Remus ate breakfast, beating Sirius in chess.

James began making mistakes on the potions homework she begrudgingly helped him with because he was too busy looking at her, and the way she pursed her lips at the textbook, sighing at whatever he said. Words spilled out of his mouth whenever Lily Evans was around, and unfortunately, so did hexes.

One fight with Snape, and he had completely tossed his chances with Lily in the bin.

That summer was a beast. His parents were sickly, and James isolated himself, doing his homework and jealously reading the letters Remus and Peter, who were both having wonderful summers, sent him.

And then, at the end of July, a loud rapping at James’ window interrupted him from his self-pity. It was a tawny owl holding a letter in its talons, looking more impatient and annoyed with him than any owl should.

“Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist,” he muttered, unlocking the window.

The owl soared in, swooping around his wind and leaving droppings on the floor.

“Argh! You couldn't have done that outside?”

James shouted a few choice words at the owl, but tapered off suddenly as he saw the handwriting on the envelope. The neat, slightly slanted letters could only be from Lily.

He ran to the owl and tore the letter from it, ripping open the envelope and reading the letter as fast as he could, then slowing down and reading it again, to fully enjoy it.

_Dear James,_  
Against all sane judgement, I'm sending you this. Tuney has a new boyfriend, who seems to think he can stay at our house now, and he's driving me mental. I've got to get out of this bloody house. Mum said I’ve got to get school supplies anyway, and that I could bring someone with me as company (Well, she said a “friend”, but I'm not sure I'd go that far). So, would you like to go to Diagon Alley with me this Tuesday afternoon? We can get our supplies and lunch and ice cream, and I promise not to laugh at you as much as I usually do. (You can tell how horrible Vernon is by the fact I'm inviting you to come with me).  
Love,  
Lily  
PS. I've gotten a new owl. I hope he's not too much of a bother.

James thrust the letter into the air, tears springing to his eyes, almost kissing the owl, who was now ramming itself into the bookshelf.

By no means was it a love confession. But when you've crushed on someone for as long as James had, you take what you can get.

Little did he know that Lily Evans was also harboring a burgeoning crush on him.

He apparated to The Leaky Cauldron ten minutes early, checking himself in a cracked mirror, adjusting and readjusting his jumper.

“Oi, Potter. Care to stop looking at yourself for a few seconds?”

James turned around, sputtering, sounding unbelievably foolish to himself.

Lily had pinned her hair up and had pink lipstick on, and the way she shook her head at him in exasperation made her look incredibly pretty.

“Evans!”

“Did you think I wouldn't come? I'm the one that invited you.”

“Nah, I'm just glad to see you. Summer’s been a bit boring without you.”

“Wow, James. You might even call that sweet.”

They were so involved in their banter that they didn't notice Tom standing over them until he cleared his throat. They both stopped, blushing, as they ordered lunch.

“So how's Vernon treating you?”

“Not as bad as Tuney treats me.” She smiled at him, and his chest swelled, because he had made her smile.

“Which, to be fair,” she continued, “isn't much better. He's rude, and a bore. He about had a fit when I said I had a date. Couldn't believe it.”

“This is a date?”

Lily took a sip of her drink. “You didn't think it was?”

“I do now.”

They sit there, staring at each other and smiling. Lily smiled because James was acting like a complete dork, and she thought, despite herself, that it was adorable. And James smiled because he was beginning to think that at long last, his crush might be turning into something more. 

* * *

 

Sirius took another sip of coffee, then turned to Harry. “Your father had a real bad crush on her.”

“Aww, James, you had a crush on me? That's embarrassing.” Lily said, leaning into James as he dunked a biscuit into his cup of tea.

He shoved her into Sirius, chuckling. “We’re married.”

“Still.” Lily leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, while Harry rolled his eyes in the other direction.

“Don't get me any of that, Harry. You'll be the doing the same thing in just a few years.” Sirius said, slapping his godson on the back.

“I don't know, Padfoot, he might already.” Lily said, smirking in her thirteen year old son’s direction. “I see the way you and Ginny look at each other,” she added as Harry sprang up dramatically.

James laughed at the offended expression on Harry’s face and at the goofy expression on his wife’s.

She turned to him as Sirius wiped away tears of laughter and Harry buried his face in his hands.

“You may not know this, James, but I had a pretty big crush on you.”

“That is embarrassing,” he said, grabbing her hand. “You could have liked anyone, and you chose me.”

He leans in and kisses Lily again, pushing her hair out of her face to make her smile.

Sirius chuckles, muttering, “Domestic,” as Harry gets up and leaves the room, throwing his hands up in the air. 


End file.
